- So the USDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
reviews dietary guidelines for Americans every five years.
So this, in 2019, is their review period
where they will then listen and assess and create
new dietary guidelines for Americans
and release them in 2020.
So we were there to speak to the committee
and I just felt really compelled and that it was a duty
that I go there and speak on behalf of food injustice.
For the USDA to continue to put its stamp of approval
on a product that is unnecessary and unhealthy
and rooted in a highly oppressive system
is unconscionable.
Animal products like dairy, they're wrought,
completely wrought with grave injustices.
- African-American people are eating foods
that are gonna make them sick
because they think they have to do it.
- So in white people, or people who have been milking cows,
which are inherently mostly Northern European white people.
We actually have a genetic mutation
that keeps that lactase enzyme turned on through adulthood,
so we are the abnormal ones.
And a lot of America's population,
as well as the world's population,
who cannot tolerate cow's milk
in a much higher percentage is 86% of African descent.
And 95 to 98% of people of Asian heritage
can't tolerate lactose or the casein in cow's milk at all.
And so, we presented this idea of food injustice
to the committee to say, "Hey listen,
"a really large majority of your people can't tolerate this
"and it's actually making them very sick."
- The vast majority of people of color in this country
are intolerant of the lactose that's in milk.
Yet, because they think they have to eat this stuff,
they go out, eat it, get sick,
and think that they have some sort of intestinal problem.
- Because the symptoms of lactose intolerance
are anywhere from stuffy nose in the morning to asthma.
To waking up in with mucus in your lungs,
to constipation, diarrhea, stomach bloating, cramping.
I mean, they're really pretty serious
feelings that people have when they can't tolerate
cow's milk or any derivative of it.
So cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, butter,
whatever it might be.
So I'm hoping that the USDA will listen
to this point and say, "Hey, wait a minute.
"This is something we should consider taking off
"because almost 65% of our population can't digest this
"and it's not a good food for them
"because it's making them sick.
"Why on Earth would it be on their plate?"
- When I encouraged them to stop eating dairy,
their problems cleared up.
And so, it's really outrageous to encourage people
to eat foods we know will them sick
particularly when the number one reason
advanced for dairy foods is its calcium content.
But African-American women are genetically protected
against getting osteoporosis,
so we're making them sick for no good reason.
- So in regards to Dr. Milton Mills comments,
and one of the very first thing he said
when he came up to the microphone,
in pointing out that sitting up before us,
the committee, there was no ethnic diversity whatsoever.
- I actually came here this morning
to call out the racism that is inherent
in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines.
But then, as I got a look at this committee,
I suddenly understood why it's such an intractable problem.
This committee bears no relationship
to the general makeup of the American populace
and whoever put it together
is clearly still practicing the optics of tokenism.
- So it really was a bunch of white people,
a couple women, but mostly white men.
And so I think he made a really strong point
before he even went into the injustices about dairy.
- It is outrageous to have a committee
that does not reflect the American population.
And as non-minority members of this committee,
I should think you would be embarrassed
looking around this table.
- Why on Earth does the USDA have a food category
on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
that makes over half of us sick, uncomfortable,
and unable to breathe?
For human health,
for human performance,
for planetary responsibility,
and for food injustice,
we cannot push this so-called food group
on human beings that over half of us cannot digest.
- So I want to encourage you, get the racism out.
Get the dairy out.
Please do your job.
Thank you.
(intense music)